Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Her plan was to drive to California from Virginia, but we only made it as far as Kansas before the thug my father hired caught up to us. After he slapped my mom around, he confiscated the car, all her cash and credit cards, and her wedding ring. Then he left us where he found us, because my dad didn’t want either of us back. He just wanted the stuff he’d paid for, out of spite. He was a multimillionaire, by the way, so it’s not like he needed those things.”
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and turned away from Adriano. Why had I told him that? Every word was true, but I wasn’t in the habit of spilling my guts to people.
“I’m sorry. That’s truly awful.” After a moment, he added, “I bet that’s why you target men you perceive as wealthy, because they remind you of your father.”
“That’s great, please psychoanalyze me some more.” Not that he was wrong.
We drove in silence for a while, as I stared out at nothing in particular. Then he said, “I never knew my father. He was separated when he started dating my mother, but by the time Mom realized she was pregnant, he’d gone back to his wife and kids. She got in touch with him to let him know he was going to have a son, and he returned to Vegas one last time to see her. He gave her a hundred grand in lieu of child support, which she used as a down payment on the building that houses her bar. He also left her with something to give to me when I turned eighteen, but he never came to see me after I was born. Then he was killed when I was four.”
I turned to look at him. “Please don’t tell me the gift he left for you was that Rolex.”
“It was.”
I’d been wondering why he was opening up to me, but now I got it—that story was meant to make me feel guilty, and it worked. In fact, I felt like absolute shit. “I’m so sorry, Adriano. I didn’t know.”
“Remember what I said that night, when I came upstairs and realized you’d taken the watch?”
“You said something along the lines of ‘anything but that.’ It’s a bit of a blur, since I was in a state of panic.”
“I did say that. I also told you I’d give you money if you needed it. That offer still stands. The watch is priceless to me, but its resale value is probably fifty thousand dollars. I’ll give you that amount in cash if you return it to me when we get back to San Francisco.”
“That’s not necessary. I already told you I planned to give it back.”
“I know what you said, but come on. It’s more likely for a thousand monkeys to come flying out of my ass than for that to be true.”
“Thanks ever so much for that visual.” Why was I even bothering to explain myself? He didn’t believe anything I said, and really, why would he? This whole situation was completely hopeless. I glanced at him one more time and asked, “How long do you suppose we’ll be in Las Vegas?”
“My best guess? Somewhere between two days and two months.”
I muttered, “Fucking awesome,” and turned my head to stare at nothing some more. I really needed to escape as soon as possible and run far, far away from Adriano Dombruso.
8
Adriano
Jack fell asleep maybe an hour into our drive, which left me alone with my thoughts. This wasn’t a good thing, because my mind was reeling.
The fact that I was doubting myself was a real problem. I was someone who usually moved through life with a lot of swagger and confidence. It was a requirement in my line of work. To call the people who frequented my poker games a tough crowd was putting it mildly, and the only way to maintain control was to get everyone to believe you were even tougher.
It helped that my mom had given me my father’s last name. There was a time when the Dombruso crime family had ruled the west coast. They were the stuff of legend, and nobody dared cross them. The name still carried weight with the old timers, but the problem was, every year saw a new crop of young upstarts, out to make their mark in the criminal underworld. They played by their own rules and respected nothing and no one.
Mario Greco was one of these men. He was fearless, hungry, and impatient, and he wanted to make a name for himself now, without paying his dues like the rest of us had. Unfortunately, he had a lot of money, which put limitless resources at his disposal. Where I could afford to hire ten men as my enforcers, he could hire thirty. And instead of building an enterprise for himself from the ground-up the way I had, he preferred the shortcut of trying to step in and take what others had made.